1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a rotary printing press which may have one or more printing stands, or printing units. Such a printing stand may typically include a plate cylinder for having mounted thereon a printing plate, an inking unit which includes ink applicator rollers for applying ink to the printing plate, a blanket cylinder for receiving an ink impression from the printing plate, and a drum for carrying a printed sheet, onto which the ink impression carried by the blanket cylinder is transferred. A duct roller is typically mounted adjacent to an ink duct. Typically, ink is transferred from the duct roller to the inking unit by means of a vibrator roller which oscillates to successively pick up ink from the duct roller and deposit the same on an a roller of the inking unit. Typically, the printing stand will also include auxiliary mechanisms such as, for example, a duct roller drive, a vibrator roller drive, and applicator roller throw-off for lifting the ink applicator rollers off of the printing plate, a press drive and a sheet feed for supplying the sheets to be printed to the sheet drum.
The present invention essentially also relates, more particularly, to a printing press which has included therein a washing device for removing dirt particles adhering to the outer cylindrical surfaces of the cylinders involved in the printing process. Such a washing device may comprise a supply roll on which a clean washcloth can be wound, a pressing-on element for pressing the washcloth into contact with the cylinder to be cleaned, a following take-up roll for taking up the dirty washcloth, side parts receiving the rolls and the pressing-on element on both sides thereof, and a drive mechanism for conveying the washcloth.
2. Background Information
A washing device such as that discussed above is known from Federal Republic of Germany Patent No. 39 09 119 A1, in which the known embodiment is designed as a slide-in unit. A disadvantage of this known embodiment may be found in that, once the clean washcloth has been used, the dirty washcloth on the take-up roll must essentially be rewound back onto the supply roll in order for the dirty washcloth to be removed. Rewinding the washcloth may cause problems, since the layers of the dirty washcloth wound on the take-up roller can tend to stick together very easily, thus hindering the rewinding process.